Your questions, answered "Are people with asthma considered at higher risk and should do as immune suppressed folks — [what about a second] booster?" — Jerry Early in the pandemic, health experts worried that people with asthma would be at high risk for severe covid-19. Asthma causes inflammation of the lungs and airways, the same parts of your respiratory system the coronavirus attacks, so it seemed logical that this would lead to worse illness. Fortunately, research over the past two years shows this isn't the case. Asthma does not appear to make covid-19 more severe or deadly for most people with the disease. "As of now, we do not have direct hard evidence to show that asthma predisposes people to more severe COVID-19 illness," Arjun Mohan, a pulmonary disease specialist at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health system, wrote recently in an asthma FAQ. "There is no evidence to support that patients with asthma are at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus," Mohan wrote, "nor is there is evidence to support that COVID-19 increases the risk of hospitalization, severity or mortality due to asthma." The CDC's outlook on asthma is somewhat different. In guidance dated April 2021, the agency says that people with "moderate-to-severe or uncontrolled asthma" are more likely to be hospitalized with covid-19. But the nation's leading asthma medical association — the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, or AAAAI — disputes this characterization, saying "there are no published data to support this determination at this time." Mohan, too, says the CDC's evidence on this remains "mixed." Britain's leading asthma charity, Asthma + Lung UK, also says asthma isn't considered a high-risk condition for most people who have it. "If you've had both your COVID-19 vaccines, your risk of serious illness from coronavirus, and being hospitalised, is likely to be low," the organization says on its website. Many studies have looked for potential correlation between asthma and severe disease. Most have found no increased risks, according to AAAAI. Some research has linked non-allergic asthma to worse illness, but this may be the result of other underlying conditions, the organization says. "Taken together, it appears that there is either no risk or at most a very slight risk for more severe COVID-19 disease in non-allergic asthma patients," AAAAI says. "This is in contrast to other risk factors like [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], obesity, etc., that have consistently been linked to more severe COVID-19 disease." It's not clear exactly why asthma doesn't raise the risks. One possibility is that the steroids taken by many asthma patients curb the virus's activity in the lungs. It's also possible that asthma patients in general take more health precautions than the rest of the population, simply because they have a chronic disease. Whatever the case, health experts agree that it's important to manage asthma by continuing to take medications (unless your doctor says otherwise) and avoiding things that trigger asthma attacks. "The bottom line for people with asthma during this pandemic is to keep doing what you have been doing all along," AAAAI says. "Continue taking your controller medication and inform your healthcare provider of any symptoms that you may develop." The CDC recommends a second booster shot for immunocompromised people for a total of four vaccine doses. Check with your doctor about whether you are eligible for the second booster. Asthma alone doesn't make you immunocompromised, but if you have certain high-risk conditions in addition to your asthma your doctor may very well recommend a fourth shot. | 
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